Senate Panel Moves Jackson's DHS Nomination Forward
Senate panel moved forward the nomination of Michael Jackson to be deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security following a hearing Monday.
The nomination next goes to the full Senate.
In testimony before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Jackson addressed several issues of interest to trucking, including port and border security and the transportation worker identification credential, or TWIC, program.
Jackson said DHS "can do a better job on the screening and a better job on the inspection" of trucks crossing into the United States.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the committee's chair, said that repeated delays in the TWIC program were "troubling" to her because "other secure identification programs have proceeded."
Jackson said he shared Collins’ frustration at the delays in the program and that DHS needed "to move this ball further and faster" and that TWIC would be an "area where my sense of urgency would be focused."
If confirmed by the full Senate, Jackson would replace Admiral James Loy and serve as the No. 2 official at Homeland Security behind recently installed DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff.
Prior to his nomination, Jackson worked for a Los Angeles consulting firm. Before that, Jackson was deputy secretary at the Department of Transportation in President Bush’s first term. In that post he helped to create the Transportation Security Administration.
Jackson is also a former senior vice president of American Trucking Associations.
